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Monday, June 30, 2014

Here are the final Marines to make up my third Tactical squad. This includes their sergeant, Koshek. He marks my return to using the Dark Angels Veteran backpack for my sergeants. The twin skull exhausts are just perfect for the Executioners.

Friday, June 27, 2014

Brother-Captain
Amalric reined in his steed, he eyes scanning the northern horizon. His
helmet’s auto-senses flagged several power armored forms moving on the horizon.
Behind him was a recently ruined city, still smoking from an overwhelming
assault. The Executioners had found it that way, and had landed troops to
investigate such slaughter on an Imperial world. Based on the damage inflicted
and the corpses they found, the had quickly discovered that the city had been
purged by Imperial Space Marines. Not wanting to waste valuable resources,
Amalric had deployed Chapter serfs and servitors to scavenge what resources
they could. The Fourth Company’s stores had been dangerously reduced during
their penitent crusade.

“At least we know who
purged the city,” he said to his Command squad over their private vox. “Perhaps
we should introduce ourselves. There may be more battles to fight here. Does
anyone recognize their heraldry?” The approaching Astartes wore extremely
baroque, silver power armor. As they closed the distance, it became clear that
they carried an assortment of power weapons and storm bolters, hardly Codex
armament. Two massive battle walkers followed their smaller brethren.

“I do not think they
would accept our help,” intoned Death-Speaker Chareos. All eyes turned to
regard the old Chaplain’s skull helm. “They are Grey Knights,” he continued,
“Secretive hunters of daemons. They will not want any witnesses to their deeds
here.” He let the final sentence hang in the vox as the other veterans considered
its implications. Amalric’s words broke the silence, broadcast to all of the
Executioners Astartes and staff.

“Brother-Captain
Amalric to all Executioners. Take up defensive positions and prepare for battle
against enemy Astartes. Do not antagonize them, but return fire if fired upon.
All serfs and servitors, return to the drop site and await extraction.”

Monday, June 23, 2014

Here's the first batch of Tactical Marines that I promised. It's a simple 4 bolter Marines, but they were a relaxing paint job, probably because they are so simple and familiar. These will go toward my ability to field a third Tactical squad in my army. I've found that this really helps me to have a good scoring presence at the end of the game.

Friday, June 20, 2014

The Tactical squad is the most basic and ubiquitous Space
Marine unit. As a Troops choice, they have several advantages over most.
They’ve got an above average statline, a great armor save, and an excellent
basic gun, and they have the option to take a special weapon and a heavy
weapon, as well as weapon upgrades for the Sergeant. This allows the Tactical
squad to fulfill a variety of roles on the battlefield. Combine this with And They Shall Know No Fear and you get
a durable, reliable objective holder that can help take out the enemy. The
downside here is that you have to pay for all of this, so a fully equipped
Tactical squad will cost as much as the Elite squads from many other codices.

Monday, June 16, 2014

Here is the last member of my mounted Command Squad, the Death-Speaker (or Chaplain if you follow the Codex Astartes more closely). I know Chaplains aren't common choices for Space Marine armies at the moment, but there were a few reasons I decided to make one.

Friday, June 13, 2014

As I mentioned in my last post, most of the rules for 7th Edition are the same as they were in 6th. Even so, there are a lot of small changes that I think really benefit the game. Spoilers, but I don't think there are any that will make my Blood Angels work on the tabletop again.

1) The new psychic phase is the biggest deal. In the long run, it means that less powers will be cast each turn and that players will have to prioritize their powers and focus on the one that is important each turn. No longer can you cast every power you have just because you have them. Armies with access to only a few psykers (such as Space Marines) will still find them useful against most armies, though they'll be shut down by the really psyker heavy builds. It still remains to be seen if these psyker heavy builds will dominate the game or if psychic powers are too expensive and random to be worth the points investment.

Monday, June 9, 2014

Now that life is getting back to normal, I've picked up the new 40K rules and had a chance to read them cover to cover. The biggest difference from previous editions is that it's been split into three different books, one each covering models, background, and rules. This is pretty awesome, as it makes it much easier to carry the rules to games without having to carry around 300 pages of extraneous material.

Monday, June 2, 2014

Hi All. I don't have any new content today because I spent the last week on my honeymoon. While I enjoyed some much needed relaxation, I did make the honeymoon a gaming free time. This was partially out of respect to my new wife, but also because I was getting tired of all the drama associated with the release of 7th Edition. As a result, I haven't picked up the new rules yet so I'll be a bit behind the curve discussing them.

Along with that, the release of a new Edition will also slow down my Tactica: Space Marines. I don't want to post any new unit reviews without knowing how the new Edition affects them. I really hope it won't invalidate my previous entries. I really don't want to re-write all of those Chapter Tactics reviews.

Anyway, you can expect my normal models and hobby content to continue, along with my initial thoughts on the increasingly controversial 7th Edition as soon as I can get my hands on it. Tacticas will have to be postponed until I feel like I have a better handle on the current game.